---
title: "Cost of Living: Stockholm vs Berlin — Geo-Parity"
description: "Germany is 13% cheaper than Sweden for monthly essentials ($1,862 vs $2,129). Full 32-item price comparison: rent, pint, groceries, transport, gym."
canonical: "https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/germany-vs-sweden/"
json: "https://geo-parity.com/api/micro-costs.json?base=SE&target=DE"
generator: geo-parity markdown twin
---
Cost of Living · SE vs DE

# 🇸🇪 Stockholm vs 🇩🇪 Berlin: what everyday life costs

Monthly essentials: **$2,129** in Sweden vs **$1,862** in Germany — 13% cheaper.

- **Essentials, Sweden**: $2,129/mo
- **Essentials, Germany**: $1,862/mo
- **Difference**: -13%
- **1-bed city rent, Germany**: $1,307/mo

## Biggest differences

Much cheaper in Germany

- Rent: 1-bedroom, city center: -14%
- Rent: 1-bedroom, outside center: -14%
- Rent: 3-bedroom, city center: -14%

Closest to Sweden prices

- Running shoes (brand): -4.2%
- Jeans (mid-range brand): -4.3%
- Imported beer, 330ml bottle: -4.3%

## The full basket (32 items)

| Item | Sweden | Germany | Diff |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Housing |  |  |  |
| Rent: 1-bedroom, city center | $1,522 | $1,307 (1,157 EUR) | -14% |
| Rent: 1-bedroom, outside center | $1,217 | $1,046 (926 EUR) | -14% |
| Rent: 3-bedroom, city center | $2,783 | $2,391 (2,116 EUR) | -14% |
| Food out |  |  |  |
| Meal, inexpensive restaurant | $16.13 | $14.31 (13 EUR) | -11% |
| Dinner for two, mid-range | $67.20 | $59.64 (53 EUR) | -11% |
| Fast-food combo meal | $9.96 | $8.93 (8 EUR) | -10% |
| Groceries |  |  |  |
| Milk, 1L | $1.02 | $0.93 (1 EUR) | -8.8% |
| Bread, fresh loaf 500g | $2.95 | $2.71 (2 EUR) | -8.1% |
| Eggs, dozen | $3.14 | $2.88 (3 EUR) | -8.3% |
| Chicken breast, 1kg | $9.23 | $8.47 (8 EUR) | -8.2% |
| White rice, 1kg | $3.69 | $3.39 (3 EUR) | -8.1% |
| Apples, 1kg | $4.43 | $4.06 (4 EUR) | -8.3% |
| Local cheese, 1kg | $11.08 | $10.16 (9 EUR) | -8.3% |
| Water, 1.5L bottle | $1.85 | $1.69 (2 EUR) | -8.6% |
| Drinks |  |  |  |
| Domestic beer, pint (draught) | $5.38 | $4.77 (4 EUR) | -11% |
| Imported beer, 330ml bottle | $7.69 | $7.36 (7 EUR) | -4.3% |
| Cappuccino | $4.48 | $3.98 (4 EUR) | -11% |
| Coke/Pepsi, 330ml | $2.12 | $1.95 (2 EUR) | -8% |
| Transport |  |  |  |
| Public transport, monthly pass | $58.83 | $52.78 (47 EUR) | -10% |
| Public transport, one-way | $2.49 | $2.23 (2 EUR) | -10% |
| Taxi start (normal tariff) | $3.58 | $3.18 (3 EUR) | -11% |
| Taxi, per km | $1.61 | $1.43 (1 EUR) | -11% |
| Petrol/gasoline, 1L | $0.91 | $0.87 (1 EUR) | -4.4% |
| Utilities & comms |  |  |  |
| Basic utilities, 85m² apartment | $181 | $162 (144 EUR) | -10% |
| Internet, 60Mbps+ unlimited | $63.35 | $56.84 (50 EUR) | -10% |
| Mobile plan, 10GB+ data | $40.73 | $36.54 (32 EUR) | -10% |
| Lifestyle |  |  |  |
| Gym membership, month | $44.80 | $39.76 (35 EUR) | -11% |
| Cinema seat | $12.54 | $11.13 (10 EUR) | -11% |
| Men's haircut | $26.88 | $23.86 (21 EUR) | -11% |
| Jeans (mid-range brand) | $52.85 | $50.60 (45 EUR) | -4.3% |
| Running shoes (brand) | $86.48 | $82.81 (73 EUR) | -4.2% |
| Coworking hot desk, month | $224 | $199 (176 EUR) | -11% |

Estimated from World Bank — Consumption price levels with per-item elasticity — model figures, not quotes. Compare any pair in the [interactive tool](https://geo-parity.com/expenses/?tab=prices&base=SE&target=DE).

## Beyond prices

What each place pays, charges and offers — wages, rent, healthcare, climate, risk and time off. Figures come from the same engines behind the individual tools, so they match what those pages say. They sit about **855 km** apart as the crow flies.

| Measure | 🇸🇪 Sweden | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Median local wage Monthly, USD. The local midpoint, not an average. | $4,250 | $3,914 |
| Rent, modelled 1-bed Monthly, USD. | $1,373 | $1,285 |
| Rent as % of a local wage Are locals priced out? | 32.3% | 32.8% |
| Out-of-pocket healthcare Per person per year, USD. | $868 | $733 |
| Doctors per 1,000 WHO. | 4.4 | 4.5 |
| Comfortable days a year 18-27 °C and dry. Measured at Stockholm and Berlin. | 62 | 84 |
| Rule of law World Bank WGI. A survey composite, so the band leads, not the decimal. | very strong | strong |
| Country risk INFORM, 0-10. Lower is safer. | 2.7 (low) | 2.4 (low) |
| Public holidays Observed nationwide; regional days are counted separately. | 16 | 9 + 10 regional |
| Air quality Mean annual PM2.5, µg/m³. WHO guideline is 5. Lower is better. | 4.8 | 8.9 |
| Life expectancy Years at birth — the outcome, not the spending. | 84.1 | 80.8 |
| Homicide rate Per 100,000 a year. A count, not a perception score. | 1.1 | 0.9 |
| Population online % using the internet. Reach, not speed — the row below is speed. | 95.8% | 93.5% |
| Internet download Measured median, Mbps. | 217.6 | 145.3 |

## Cheap for you, or cheap for everyone?

Rent measured twice: against a $6,000/month remote income, and against what people actually earn locally. The gap between the two is the arbitrage — and it is the reason somewhere can be affordable to you and unaffordable to a local at once.

🇸🇪 Sweden

9.4 pts

22.9% of your income vs 32.3% of a local wage

🇩🇪 Germany

11.4 pts

21.4% of your income vs 32.8% of a local wage

Worked at $6,000/month. [Run it on your own income](https://geo-parity.com/expenses/?tab=housing)

## The whole Sweden → Germany move, in one place

Everything above is free and always will be. The relocation report is the same engines run together for this one corridor: what you keep after rent, prices, healthcare and tax; the local wage ladder you would be earning against; which visas your income qualifies for; the day count that makes you tax-resident; and the months worth being there for.

[See the Sweden → Germany report — £7](https://geo-parity.com/report/sweden-to-germany/) One-off. No subscription. Free preview first.

## Related

- [Reverse view: Germany vs Sweden](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/germany-vs-sweden/)
- [Fair salary: Sweden → Germany](https://geo-parity.com/salary/sweden-to-germany/)
- [How much to retire in Germany?](https://geo-parity.com/fire/germany/)
- [Cost of living in Germany vs the US](https://geo-parity.com/ppp/germany/)

## More comparisons

### Sweden compared with

- [Sweden vs Netherlands](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/sweden-vs-netherlands/)
- [Sweden vs Ireland](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/sweden-vs-ireland/)
- [Sweden vs Canada](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/sweden-vs-canada/)
- [Sweden vs New Zealand](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/sweden-vs-new-zealand/)
- [Sweden vs France](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/sweden-vs-france/)

### Moving to Germany from

- [Australia vs Germany](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/australia-vs-germany/)
- [Denmark vs Germany](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/denmark-vs-germany/)
- [United Kingdom vs Germany](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/united-kingdom-vs-germany/)
- [Norway vs Germany](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/norway-vs-germany/)
- [New Zealand vs Germany](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/new-zealand-vs-germany/)
- [Canada vs Germany](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/canada-vs-germany/)

## Frequently asked questions

- **How much cheaper is Germany than Sweden?**: A single person's monthly essentials run about $1,862 in Germany versus $2,129 in Sweden — 13% less. Rents differ the most; world-priced goods like petrol and electronics the least.
- **What does a beer cost in Germany?**: A domestic draught pint is roughly $4.77 in Germany (≈ 4.22 EUR), versus about $5.38 in Sweden.
- **How much is rent in Germany compared to Sweden?**: A 1-bedroom city-center apartment is estimated at $1,307/month in Germany versus $1,522/month in Sweden (-14%). Housing is the most locally-priced item in the basket.
- **How are these prices estimated?**: Curated US baseline prices scaled by each country's purchasing-power price level with per-item elasticities (housing 1.4, services 1.1, groceries 0.8, world-priced goods 0.4) — model estimates for orientation, not quotes.

Model estimates — verify locally. Agents: GET /api/micro-costs.json?base=SE&target=DE.

---

Source: Geo-Parity — https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/germany-vs-sweden/ · JSON: https://geo-parity.com/api/micro-costs.json?base=SE&target=DE